Our First Family Vacation

We wanted to go somewhere fun when Sam got home and what's the obvious choice? Disneyland!

We decided to drive there, which I think was a good idea since we had to work around kids' nap schedules, it was nice to have our own car to drive to restaurants and the beach, and we packed a TON of stuff. The kids were really good on the trip. The size of our new Yukon and it's handy built in DVD player really helped!

We spent 4 days hopping back and forth from Disneyland to California Adventure. By the end of it, I think we saw all the characters we had really wanted to see, and rode most of the rides. The weather wasn't all that great because it was rainy/overcast 4 1/2 of the 6 days we were in California. That was kind of sad because it cut our pool and beach time short - and Kaitlyn was really loving the beach! But even though we had to wear jackets most of the time it was still better than all the snow and cold we had waiting for us at home. And on at least one of the days it worked to our advantage because most of the people stayed home and we didn't have to wait in long lines for the ride. We all had so a great time riding the rides, meeting the characters (Ariel was Kaitlyn's favorite), and enjoying everything else the parks had to offer. We had so much fun and can't wait to go again. Though next time I'd like to take a larger group so the kids have other kids to play with and maybe the adults could get a bit of time to themselves. Anyone want to go with us? :)

Too much snow!

Is anyone else sick of winter? It seems like we have just been pounded with snow storms lately. And for those of you that aren't experiencing this, check out these photos for a little taste of what you are missing. I know you're jealous!

Daddy's Home!

Sam's home! He flew in on January 30. For those of you that weren't aware, Sam was activated in July and spent a little over 6 months in Iraq quarding an air base.

The kids and I got to go to the airport to meet him. They let us through airport security all the way down to the terminal to wait for the plane to arrive. And they made sure we knew exactly which one the guys were on by giving it a huge firetruck escort. Kaitlyn was SOOOOO excited. Tyler did know what was going on, but Katy's enthusiasm was catching and both of them ended up jumping up and down at the window as the plane rolled in. The whole rest of the day Kaitlyn was Sam's little shadow - holding onto his hand or hugging him, wanting him to play with her...Even in the car on the ride home every few minutes we would hear from the back seat "Daddy, I love you!"

Thanks everyone for all your support while he was gone. We're very happy to have him home. And no, we don't expect him to have to go back anytime soon.